63d Congress, { HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, j Report 
8d Session. j ( No. 214. 



RADIUM. 


February 3, 1914. —Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state 

of the Union and ordered to be printed. 


tyr < b' /VW 

Mr. Foster, from the Committee on Mines and Mining, submitted the 

following 

REPORT. 

[To accompany H. R. 12741.] 

The Committee on Mines and Mining, to which was referred H. J. 
Res. 185, introduced by Mr. Foster; H. J. Res. 186, introduced by 
Mr. Ferris; H. R. 12112, introduced by Mr. Mondell; and H. R. 12741, 
introduced by Mr. Foster, each having the same general purpose of 
securing an adequate supply of radium for the use of the Government 
and people of the United States, begs leave to report H. R. 12741 
without amendment, and recommends the bill for passage. 

HEARINGS. 

Upon the reference of the resolutions and bills to this committee, we 
began on January 19, 1914, to hold public hearings for the purpose 
of obtaining information on the subject from those in favor, as well 
as from those opposed. The committee gave six days to the hearings, 
and gave full opportunity for those interested to appear and testify. 
As a result of these hearings, the committee reports back H. R. 12741, 
with the recommendation that it be passed. 

A BILL To provide for and encourage the prospecting, mining, and treatment of radium-bearing ores 
in lands belonging to the United States, for the purpose of securing an adequate supply of radium for 
Government and other hospitals in the United States, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled , That all deposits of carnotite, pitchblende, or other ores, con¬ 
taining radium in sufficient quantity for extraction, in lands belonging to the United 
States, and the lands containing same, shall be subject to exploration, occupation, 
and purchase under the mining laws upon condition that said radium-bearing ores 
shall be exclusively sold and delivered to the United States as hereinafter provided, 
and all said ores hereafter mined from lands the title to which is now in the United 
States, and which were not located under the mining laws of the United States, and 
of the States wherein the same are situated prior to the fifteenth day of January, 
nineteen hundred and fourteen, shall*be so sold and delivered, and the exclusive 
right of the United States to purchase and receive said ores from the owners of such 





















































T/V'HS' 
.Ft 3 

1 ^ 14 - 


2 RADIUM. 

lands, their lessees and assigns, together with the right of the United States to annul 
and void any patent issued for such lands because of failure to develop and mine 
such ores with reasonable diligence, shall be expressly reserved in any and all patents 
which may hereafter be issued. 

Sec. 2. That the locators of lands containing said deposits of radium-bearing ores 
shall prospect, mine, and develop such deposits continuously and in good faith, and 
failure to prosecute such prospecting, mining, and development on lands chiefly 
valuable for said deposits for a consecutive period of four months in any calendar 
year shall subject the same to relocation or, in the absence of relocation, to forfeiture 
at the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior: Provided , That the Secretary of the 
Interior shall have authority by public notice to suspend for such period as he may 
fix the requirement of continuous development as hereinbefore provided. 

Sec. 3. That the sale, gift, or other disposition of said radium-bearing ores to any 
person, association, or corporation other than the United States shall be unlawful, 
and any violation hereof shall subject any location made or patent issued to forfeiture, 
and the person, association, or corporation so selling, giving, or otherwise unlawfully 
disposing of said ores shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not 
less than twice the value of the ores so sold, given away, or unlawfully disposed of: 
Provided , That when in the opinion of the Secretary of the Interior special conditions 
arise which make such action necessary he may, by special order, permit the sale 
and delivery of said ores after or without tender to the United States, as he may deem 
advisable. 

Sec. 4. That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to 
erect, maintain, and operate a plant or plants for the concentration and treatment 
of radium-bearing ores and the extraction of the radium and by-products therefrom; 
to purchase radium-bearing ores mined from lands occupied and held under the pro¬ 
visions of this act at such prices, to be fixed by him from time to time and published 
in advance on the first day of January and of July in each year, as will insure the pros¬ 
pecting for and mining of such ores, and, if need arises, to purchase or accept radium- 
bearinr ores from other sources; to sell the by-products of such ores at the best prices 
obtainable; and he shall make such disposition or use of the radium produced as will 
best serve the need of the people of the United States. . 

Sec. 5. That the Secretary of the Interior shall report to Congress at the begin¬ 
ning of ea( h regular session all receipts, expenditures, and operations under the pro- 
vis’ons of this act, with such recommendations concerning future operations as he 
shall deem proper. All mining operations on lands located as herein provided for 
shall at all times be subject to inspection by authorized representatives of the Secre¬ 
tary of the Interior, and the locators or patentees of such lands, their lessees and 
assigns, shall transmit monthly to the Secretary of the Interior or to his authorized 
representative a statement of all developments, the nature thereof, and the quantity 
of ore mined. 

Sec. 6. That there is hereby authorized for the erection and general equipment of 
a suitable building or buildings for the radium-extraction and other work of the 
Bureau of Mines in the metal-mining States the sum of $150,000, and for the neces¬ 
sary expenses connected with the purchase and treatment of radium-bearing ores and 
the extraction of radium therefrom during the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, 
nineteen hundred and fifteen, the further sum of $300,000. 

GENERAL SCOPE OF THE BILL. 

The bill as reported withdraws no land from entry, nor does it 
reserve to the United States the ownership of radium-carrying ore 
deposits on lands still under Government control. It simply gives 
to the General Government a preferential right to purchase the 
radium-bearing ores from lands now owned by the Government, at 
such prices to be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior as will cover 
the cost of and encourage mining operations, and under conditions 
that require the full and prompt development of the radium deposits 
for the benefit of the people. At the same time it furnishes to the 
actual prospector or miner a steady market for his ores and sure and 
prompt payment for the material when sold—two conditions that he 
has not always enjoyed in the past. 

♦ 

o. OF D. 

FEB 18 !914 - 




RADIUM. 3 

The purpose of this bill is therefore correctly reported: 

To provide for and encourage the prospecting, mining, and treatment of radium¬ 
bearing ores in lands belonging to the United States, for the purpose of securing an 
adequate supply of radium for Government and other hospitals in the United States, 
and for other purposes. 

The bill safeguards the interests of all the people and provides for 
any unforeseen conditions by authorizing the Secretary of the 
Interior to fix semiannually the price to be paid for the ores under 
conditions that will insure the prospecting for and mining of them; 
allows the Secretary to permit the sale and delivery of these ores 
after or without tender to the United States, if conditions arise which 
make this advisable, i. e., if conditions arise under which the Govern¬ 
ment is for a time unprepared to purchase the ores; and it permits 
him to accept or purchase radium-bearing ores from deposits already 
in the hands of private individuals, should such tenders be made and 
the material be needed. It also authorizes him to dispose of the 
radium extracted under conditions that will best serve the needs of 
the people of the United States, keeping in mind always the needs 
of the many who are unable to bear the burden of expensive journevs 
or costly treatment which now limit such treatment to the few. It 
authorizes an appropriation to cover the cost of the mining of the 
radium-bearing ores on the public lands and the extraction of the 
radium. If such policy is deemed wise the Secretary of the Interior 
may sell a part or all of the radium produced to American hospitals 
at cost of production, and turn the receipts therefrom into the 
Treasury, thus reimbursing the Government in part or in full for the 
expenditures under this act. 

GENERAL SUMMARY. 

From information brought before it, the committee is convinced 
of the great public need of the legislation herein proposed. It has 
been shown by the highest medical authority and to the committee’s 
satisfaction that radium is a cure for certain forms of cancer, particu¬ 
larly those of an external nature which have not progressed beyond 
the reach of this or any other remedy; that it is almost a specific in 
certain forms of giant sarcoma; and that many ca9.s of cancer quite 
beyond the hope of surgery can be and have been cured by this agent. 
From the evidence at hand it seems probable that by the use of larger 
quantities of radium than are now available, a large number of present 
failures might be transformed into cures. Unfortunately up to the 
present time, no American surgeon has been able to procure for use 
in any case more than 1 gram of radium—a quantity not larger than 
a garden pea—and the total quantity now available for all American 
hospitals does not exceed 2 grams. 

As there are estimated to be over 200,000 cases of cancer in the 
United States and 75,000 people yearly are said to die of cancer, the 
importance of this discovery and the seriousness of this situation for 
the American people can not be overestimated. It has been shown 
to the satisfaction of the committee that during the last two or three 
years the United States has supplied from two to three times as much 
of the raw material used in producing radium as all the rest of the 
world together; that this material has for the main part been ex¬ 
ported to foreign countries at prices entirely incommensurate with the 


4 


RADIUM. 


actual value of the contained radium; that up to January 1, 1914, 
only 2 grams of this material had been produced in the United States; 
and that one company—the only company in the United States now 
actually producing and selling this material—has already contracted 
abroad for the major part of its 1914 output. It' has also been shown 
that, on account of the great foreign demand for the material, it is 
practically impossible to procure radium at any price for immediate 
delivery, and that when future deliveries are promised the price is so 
high and so far beyond the actual coshof production that there is 
small hope that this remedy will become generally available for rich 
and poor alike in this country. 

Your committee is therefore convinced that Congress should 
immeniately take steps, as proposed in this bill, to develop the 
radium resources still belonging to the people of this country, and to 
do this under conditions that will secure and make immediately and 
widely available the largest possible supply of this radium for the 
treatment of the sufferers from cancer among the people in the United 
States. The bill now reported will accomplish this purpose in a 
manner which, it is believed, instead of discouraging will encourage 
and stimulate the prospector to discover and mine the radium ore 
deposits by giving him a certain and fair reward for his discovery 
and his work. 

DISCOVERY OF RADIUM. 

In 1896, Prof. Henri Becquerel, in France, in some experiments 
that he was conducting in connection with the ability of substances, 
rendered phosphorescent under the influence of Roentgen rays, to 
photograph themselves, made the interesting discovery that uranium 
and its salts possess to a small degree the property of giving off rays 
that affect a photographic plate through material ordinarily opaque, 
as the X ray was known to do. As a result of this experiment Prof. 
P. and Mme. S. Curie conceived the idea that these rays must come 
from some new element and undertook to separate this element from 
the ores from which uranium had been produced, as certain of these 
ores were found to be more radioactive than uranium. 

In 1898 Prof, and Mme. Curie succeeded in obtaining from certain 
residues of uranium manufactured in Austria a new element which 
they announced under the name of “radium.” This material was 
found to possess the property of giving off amounts of energy far in 
excess of any previously known material, and the extended investi¬ 
gations undertaken since have greatly augmented the knowledge of 
the subject. Details of the investigations can be found in a classic 
work on the subject, entitled “ Radioactive Substances and Their 
Radiations ,” by E. Rutherford, University of Manchester, England. 

During the early years of the study of radium, certain pitchblende 
residues that can no longer be obtained were available, and these 
were more radioactive than the ore itself. Dr. Giesel, chemist of the 
Chinin Fabrique, Brunswick, Germany, interested himself in pro¬ 
curing enough of the material to supply certain scientists with it at 
cost, so that its properties might be investigated. [^Some of these 
early workers obtained radium at less than $20 a milligram; from 
this figure the price of the material has steadily risen until to-day the 
quoted price for future delivery is $120 per milligram in. radium 


RADIUM. 


5 


bromide of 60 per cent purity. In pure radium bromide, which, 
however, is not necessary for most purposes, the price of radium 
metal is approximately $180 per milligram ($120 per milligram is 
equivalent to $3,400,000 per ounce avoirdupois). 

It should be remembered also that the total amount of radium 
extracted up to the present time is probably not in excess of an 
ounce of radium metal. 

RESOURCES. 

Radium ores are known to occur in several localities, but always in 
comparatively small amounts. The richest radium-bearing region is 
undoubtedly the Paradox Valley region in Montrose County, Colo., 
where the ore is carnotite, containing uranium and vanadium besides 
radium. Mines at Joachimsthal, Austria, have been taken over by 
the Austrian Government and are being developed through govern¬ 
mental resources. The only ore there is pitchblende, an impure 
oxide of uranium carrying radium. Pitchblende is also found in 
Gilpin County, Colo., whence several tons of ore have been shipped 
abroad to contribute a little to the radium supply. 

In the old tin-mining district in Cornwall, England, some pitch¬ 
blende is also found, and an English company and one of the French 
companies are reputed to get their chief supplies from low-grade ores 
oja the dumps and in the stopes of the old tin mines. 

I Deposits of autunite, another radium-bearing mineral, are known 
to occur in Portugal and also in Australia, and a few hundred milli¬ 
grams of radium are yearly produced from these ores. Carnotite is, 
however, the chief source of radium at present. LYery low-grade 
deposits of carnotite mixed with another mineral (ilmenite) are 
known to occur in Australia, and a plant has been started in that 
country which is producing Trom 100 to 200 milligrams of radium 
per month. A deposit has also been found at Ferghana, Russian 
Turkestan. It has not yet become a regular source of supply, and 
there is no reason to believe, from any report issued up to the present 
time, that it will prove a large source of radium. JLn fact, no deposit 
of radium ores anywhere discovered gives any promise of supplying 
material enough to meet the immediate demands .2 

The carnotite deposits of Colorado and Utah are, as before stated, 
the most extensive in the world. They have, however, been very 
wastefully exploited, some 4 tons more or less of low-grade ore hav¬ 
ing been thrown on the dumps or mixed with mine waste for every 
ton of ship able ore so far marketed. 

PRESENT ORE SUPPLIES. 

According to the testimony presented to your committee, from 
700 to 1,000 claims have been at one time or another staked in Colo¬ 
rado and Utah; of these claims perhaps 300 may eventually be worked 
and 150 may be considered reasonably good. These claims have 
been for the main part bought up by a "few interests, and for only a 
few ch ims has the prospector obtained more than $50 to $200 a claim. 
The Standard Chemical Co., of Pittsburgh, controls approximately 
170 of these claims; the General Vanadium Co., of Liverpool, Eng¬ 
land, 58; the Radium Co. of America, 20 to 25; Thomas F. Curran, 


6 


RADIUM. 


70 or more; O. B. Wilmarth, 20 to 25; and the National Radium 
Institute, 16. The others are scattered among the smaller producers. 
Many claims are being located at present and if a supply of radium 
is to be preserved for America prompt action by Congress is necessary. 

FUTURE ORE SUPPLIES. 

As to future ore supplies no definite statements can be made, the 
testimony presented to your committee being contradictory. Those 
who now own claims are very sure that other supplies will be found 
in quantity. There is no reason to believe that further discoveries 
will not be made, although the mining engineers reporting to the 
Denver Chamber of Commerce, the employees of the Bureau of 
Mines, and members of the Geological Survey state that all known 
deposits are already located. Accordingly, it will probably be neces¬ 
sary, if the Government is to secure immediate supplies, to purchase 
from owners of claims already located as well as to put forth every 
effort to open up new deposits. 

The carnotite region is known to be extensive, there being an area 
of something over 480,000 acres within which pockets of carnotite 
are apt to occur. But in many places the carnotite-bearing stratum 
has been eroded away and in many others it is so deeply buried by 
later beds that there is no reasonable hope of ever obtaining the 
supplies that are undoubtedly embedded therein. Ihere are, however, 
certain areas where this stratum is only a few feet under the surface, 
as well as many places on the canyon sides where it outcrops and 
where pockets of carnotite are likely to be found. Glhese carnotite 
deposits, however, are mainly small, no claim having yet produced 
without exhaustion more than 500 tons of shipable ore. Most of the 

E ockets contain less than 50 tons. Ihese pockets are not connected 
y stringers and there is no evidence of vein formation. Accordingly, 
the finding of one pocket is no indication that others are adjacent, 
although sometimes this may be the case. With the large number of 
prospectors now in the field it is hoped and expected that new dis¬ 
coveries will be made and that sufficient bodies of ore will be opened 
up to assure the radium necessary for American hospitals. 

SAVING OF WASTE. 

Many of the claims already worked have on their dumps con¬ 
siderable quantities of ore that is too poor to ship at such prices as 
have prevailed in the past. Ihere is every reason to believe, how¬ 
ever, that concentration methods can be developed by which much 
of this ore can be concentrated on a basis that will make a large part 
of it available for use. 

This is a very important work for the Government to do, as more 
than twice as much radium has been wasted than has actually found 
its way to market. Certainly every effort should be made to conserve 
this almost priceless material. 

A paper presented to the American Mining Congress at Philadelphia 
October 24, 1918, reprinted as Appendix 1 of this report, gives 
additional (lata. 


RADIUM, 


7 


UNITED STATES PRODUCTION AND EXPORTATION. 

This country lias been quite unaware of the proportion of uranium 
ores sent abroad. As in most radium ores there is a fairly definite 
ratio of radium to uranium (1 to 3,000,000), the amount of radium 
obtained and exported can be roughly calculated from the uranium 
content of the ores sold. According to the figures of the Bureau of 
Mines, carnotite ores carrying 28.8 tons of uranium oxide were pro¬ 
duced in 1912, and practically the entire amount was exported. In 
that year the uranium content of the major part ran between 2 and 3 
per cent uranium oxide, as, owing to the cost of transportation, no 
ore carrying less than 2 per cent could be marketed. From the ores 
shipped abroad in 1912, 11.43 grams of anhydrous radium bromide 
could have been and probably was extracted. In 1913, according to 
preliminary figures of the United States Geological Survey, 2,140 tons 
of ore were produced, of which 1,198 tons were shipped to works in 
this country and 942 tons were exported. However, owing to the 
cost of transportation only the richer ores were exported, so that 
radium equivalent to about 7.5 grams of anhydrous radium bromide, 
more than one-lialf of the total American production for the year, 
was sent abroad. Cne foreign company did not work its plant in 
the Paradox Valley, Colo., during the greater part of the year, because 
it was building a new plant in Liverpool, and it cost less to leave the 
ore in the mine than to take out the ore and store it in England. 
This company will be a large exporter of carnotite from Colorado and 
Utah during 1914. 

It is improbable that all of the ores exported are now represented 
by finished product, but the actual production for 1912 and 1913 
can not be much less than the quantity mentioned. The total 
cpiantity of uranium exported in 1911 was almost equal to that 
exported in 1912, and ores are still being sold for treatment abroad. 
There can be no doubt that in 1912 and 1913 there was obtained 
from American ores more than twice and probably three times as 
much radium as from all other sources combined. 

The carnotite prospects and mines of the West have been described 
in Bulletin 70 of the Bureau of Mines, entitled “A Preliminary 
Report on Uranium, Radium, and Vanadium/’ by R. B. Moore ana 
Karl L. Kithil; and the subject is further treated in “Advance 
Chapters from Mineral Resources for 1912,” by F. L. Hess, of the 
United States Geological Survey. The mines are for the main 
part in Montrose and San Miguel Counties, Colo., and in a somewhat 
more extensive territory just to the west and northwest of these 
deposits in Utah. Since Bulletin 70 was written prospecting in 
this region has been extensive. Many agents of foreign manufac¬ 
turers have been in the country seeking supplies for shipment abroad, 
and a much stronger demand for ores has caused prices to advance 
so that at present ore containing 2 per cent of uranium oxide readily 
brings $80 per ton at the railroad at Placerville, Col. Correspond¬ 
ingly higher prices are obtained abroad, and some private producers 
who were able to contract for considerable quantities report even 
higher prices. 

Owing to the interest aroused and’ to the proposed withdrawal of 
radium-bearing lands, there has been a decided increase in prospect¬ 
ing and some important new finds have been made. Although many 


8 


RADIUM. 


claims have been staked in different parts of the radium-bearing 
region, the most impotrant finds have been at the summit of Big 
Canyon at the head of Lisbon Valley, Utah, just across the State 
line from the McIntyre district, Colorado. Other important finds 
are reported in the Henry Mountains about 100 miles southeast of 
Green River and in a district about 7 miles northeast of Monticello, 
Utah. Development work has been carried on at Gateway and 
also in the western part of the Paradox Valley, the original scene of 
the main operations. , 

FOREIGN DEMAND. 

As already stated, by far the larger part of the radium ore so far 
produced in the United States has been shipped abroad, and, even 
worse than this, that portion of the radium which is being extracted in 
America has also been largely contracted for foreign delivery. This 
has opened up to foreign medicine and science opportunities for 
ttie investigation and treatment of malignant diseases that have been 
denied to our own people, except by purchase of manufactured 
radium compounds at almost prohibitive prices. To-day there is 
probably less than 2 grams of radium salts in the possession of physi¬ 
cians in this country, which, considering the almost miraculous cures 
of cancer shown to this committee by reputable surgeons through 
the means of plaster casts and photographs, is appalling. In Europe 
a very different condition exists. During the past year extensive 
appropriations have been made there for the purchase of radium and 
mesothorium, showing the great demand that has arisen for these 
materials in the treatment of cancer. Some of these purchases have 
been made by Government appropriation and some by municipal or 
other public subscription. The Austrian Government has expended 
$600,000 for the purchase of deposits of radium-bearing ores, and 
has made subsequent provision for the mining of these ores and the 
extraction of the radium. Prussia has appropriated 370,000 marks 
for the purchase of 1 gram of radium bromide. 

RADIUM IN CANCER WORK. 

Three leading surgeons of this country, who have themselves had 
extensive experience in the application of radium in the treatment 
of malignant diseases, viz, Dr. Howard A. Kelly, of Baltimore; Dr. 
Robert Abbe, of New York; and Dr. Curtis F. Burnam, of Baltimore, 
have appeared before this committee and have shown casts and 
photographs of cancer cures actually brought about in their practice, 
which appear to your committee to be in themselves more than 
sufficient argument for the proposed legislation. These three sur¬ 
geons and Dr. H. R. Gaylord, director of the New York State can¬ 
cer laboratory, have favored the general principles outlined in this 
bill, have expressed their inability to procure more radium for their 
own practice, and have emphasized their great need and desire for 
more of this material tube used in treating the sufferers of the most 
malignant of diseases. 

We appropriate large sums each year for the treatment of the 
diseases of animals, for the destruction of pests, and various sums for 
other important objects for the benefit of the people. It has been 


RADIUM. 


9 


demonstrated beyond a doubt that this remedy is a cure for external 
malignant growths. 

Hoffman, the statistician, estimates that each year 75,000 people 
die from these growths known as malignant. 

If this remedy will cure 20 per cent we have saved 15,000 lives each 
year. The cause of cancer is to-day unknown, so physicians must 
apply themselves to the cure until some one discovers the cause, so 
that it will be known how to prevent this disease. 

If this Government does not secure these ores bearing radium, it is 
quite likely that large quantities will be shipped out of the country, 
and what is extracted in our own country will fall into the hands of 
those who will have a monopoly, and the price will be so high that it 
will be out of the reach of the poor people. As it has been well said, 
“cancer is the poor man’s disease and radium is the rich man’s 
remedy. ” 

If this bill becomes a law we hope that in time the Government will 
control this remedy so that it may be placed in all parts of the country, 
readily accessible to all those who may be so unfortunate as to require 
its use and may secure the treatment without having to pay an exorbi¬ 
tant price. We want it so placed that the poor as well as the rich 
may be cured. 

It certainly is better for the Government to have the monopoly 
than the private individual, in so important a curative agent for 
disease from which no one can be assured they will never be afflicted. 

It is now estimated that the .hospitals belonging to the United 
States ought to have at least 25 grams, and at the present price it 
would cost $120,000 per gram, which would mean the expenditure of 
a large sum to secure the amount thought necessary. It has been 
shown that foreign buyers have been securing all the ore they could 
and shipping it to their own country and extracting the metal, and 
then our people have been compelled to buy the radium from them. 
It seems too important that this very valuable curative agent should 
be allowed to go from our own country to foreign lands and we not 
be able to secure sufficient for the use of our own people. While 
we would not desire to be selfish and not permit those of other 
countries who might need this remedy to secure it, yet we should also 
remember that our first duty lies to our citizens, and we should have 
the opportunity of securing a sufficient supply first before we sell to 
any other country. We should, of course, assist those who may be 
unfortunate any place in the world, that they may have tlie benefit 
so far as we are able to do, yet we ought to have the control of this 
remedy, which lies in the public lands which the Government now 
owns. 


RADIUM INSTITUTES. 

Several radium institutes have been founded throughout the world 
for studying the application of radium to science and to disease. 
Some of these are private and some are public. Prominent among 
them may be mentioned the Radium Institute of Austria, founded 
under a donation given by Dr. Kuppelweiser to the Academy of 
Science of Austria, which now has one of the largest supplies of pure 
radium salts used chiefly in scientific investigations. 

In Paris a new radium institute under the direction of the Sorbonne 
has been built by this university near the Pantheon. 


10 


RADIUM. 


In England the London Radium Institute was founded by Sir 
Earnest Cassel and Viscount Iveah, who gave a large sum for its 
endowment. This institute is making a special study of the applica¬ 
tion of radium to disease. 

In this country the National Radium Institute has recently been 
founded by Dr. Howard A. Kelly, of Baltimore, and Dr. James 
Douglas, of New York. The reasons for the foundation of this insti¬ 
tute and its purposes may be best expressed by quoting the article 
by the secretary of the institute, Mr. Archibald Douglas, which ap¬ 
peared in the Mining and Scientific Press of January 3, 1914, and is 
reprinted at Appendix 2 of this report (p. 17). 

DIFFICULTY OF SECURING RADIUM ON ANY OTHER BASIS THAN GOVERN¬ 
MENT OPERATION. 

At present, on account of the tremendous demand for the material 
abroad, there is no means of keeping radium ores or radium in 
America except by overbidding the excessive price now being offered 
for them in European markets; and this means that the people of 
this country must buy back from foreign countries at speculative 
and exhorbitant prices the very radium which was their own and 
which their Government has allowed to become subject to foreign 
exploitation. It has already been shown that foreign Governments 
and municipalities are prepared to pay prices for radium far in excess 
of the cost of production and manufacture, and they have already 
obtained more than half of the available ores produced in the United 
States. It was in France, Germany, and Austria that the value of 
radium was first appreciated. Here a demand for it was first estab¬ 
lished and processes for extracting it from these ores were developed. 
Meanwhile, our own Government has been giving away its deposits 
of radium-bearing ores, which even though limited are the most 
extensive known, and allowing them to pass into the ownership of a 
foreign corporation, a few American companies acting as shipping 
agents for other foreign corporations, or to an American company 
which sells its radium largely to foreign purchasers. The high price 
of radium salts—by far the larger part of this price representing a 
profit to the manufacturer—is taking radium out of the country, and 
even if it stays in the country, the present price makes its use so 
expensive that the material can hardly be expected to be available to 
people of small means, except in so-called charity cases. 

Accordingly, it seems extremely important that the United States 
Government shall make such provision as may be necessary to obtain 
supplies of radium requisite to meet the more urgent needs of the 
American people. 

For this neglect and delay in radium development in the United 
States the responsibility does not rest with the 75,000 cancer suf¬ 
ferers, but rather with the scientific men in our universities and our 
Government service and with Congress itself. The legislation now 
proposed is intended to remedy this situation. 

APPROPRIATIONS. 

The committee after due deliberation has asked for an appropri¬ 
ation of $150,000 for the erection and general equipment oi a suit¬ 
able building or buildings for radium-extraction and other work of 


RADIUM. 


11 


the Bureau of Mines in the metal-mining States, and the further sum 
of $300,000 for the necessary expenses connected with the purchase 
and reatment of radium-bearing ores and the extraction of radium 
therefrom during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1915. The com¬ 
mittee believes that these amounts are less than should be allotted 
to this important work, but believes also that they will be sufficient 
for the erection and equipment of the extraction plant and the pur¬ 
chase of such ores as can be procured in the fiscal year 1915, and will 
enable the department to get the work well under way. 

It is expected tht the buildings to be erected under this appropri¬ 
ation of $150,000 will be inexpensive structures that will be located 
at points best adapted to the success of this radium work. The larger 
part of this appropriation is for the engineering equipment necessary 
m the concentration and treatment of the ores and the extraction of 
the radium. The other appropriation ($300,000) will be used for 
the purchase of ores (covering the cost of mining) and for the chem¬ 
ical equipment and supplies and general operating expenses. 

It is expected further that if the necessary supply of ore be obtained 
the commercial value of the radium extracted under this appropri¬ 
ation will be far in excess of the total amount of the appropriation 
authorized in this bill. 

Your committee believes that the welfare of the American people 
and especially the alleviation of those suffering from that terrible 
malignant disease known as cancer demand that this bill be passed 
and that this important work be initiated without undue delay. 

Further information concerning the radium resources of the United 
States and the progress made in their development, including the 
establishment of the National Radium Institute, will be found in the 
two appendixes reprinted below: 

Appendix I. 

[Reprinted from the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Vol. 5, No. 11. November, 1913.) 

Our Radium Resources. 1 

By Charles L. Parsons 2 

The “wonders of radium,” both fact and fable, have been treated so extensively in 
the scientific and public press that it is not my intention, nor is it at all necessary to 
repeat them here. Rather it is my wish to-day to present to a body of men interested 
in the development of American mining the present commercial situation as regards 
radium and its ores, and to point out, so far as I may, some of those future develop¬ 
ments that already begin to be more or less distinctly visible. 

A bulletin on the radium, uranium, and vanadium situation, by R. B. Moore, physical 
chemist in charge of the Denver office of the Bureau of Mines, and K. L. Kithil, 
mineral technologist of the Bureau, will appear within a few weeks and will contain 
much detail of interest to the mining industry. Last April an advance statement, 
authorized by the Director, regarding this bulletin, brought out particularly the fact 
that practically all of the carnotiteore mined in the world in 1912 was shipped abroad 
and that this country was furnishing annually nearly three times as much radium 
from its Colorado carnotite deposits as all the rest of the world put together. It was 
further pointed out that this material has been bought by European buyers at a price 
entirely incommensurate with its radium value and that efforts should be made to 
keep at home both the radium itself and the profits of its manufacture; also that too 
much stress could not be laid upon the extensive waste of valuable radium ore thrown 
on the dumps of mines and prospects—much of it under such conditions that it could 
never be recovered. 


1 Paper presented before the American Mining Congress, Philadelphia, October 23, by permission of the 
Director of the U. S. Bureau of Mines. 

2 Chief of the Division of Mineral Technology, Bureau of Mines. 



12 


RADIUM. 


The publication of this statement has already resulted in an increase of at least 
33 per cent in the price of carnotite ore, and European buyers are awakening to the 
fact that they must pay to the American miner a price nearer the actual value of 
his ore. Also, a much lower grade of ore is now marketable, for whereas six months 
ago ore containing 2 per cent uranium oxide was the lowest grade accepted by European 
buyers, agents of these buyers are now asking for and actually purchasing ore con¬ 
taining no more than half this content of uranium. Furthermore, the operators are 
taking more care in separating their low-grade ore from the gangue and in protecting 
it from wind and weather. Moreover, old dumps are being sold and ore that a few 
months ago was thrown aside as valueless will be recovered from them. 

In this paper I shall refer to other facts contained in this bulletin and shall mention 
some new developments having a direct bearing upon the American radium industry 
which have taken place since the manuscript was sent to the printer. 

As is well known to all of you, the popular belief has been that the chief source of 
radium is the mineral pitchblende, especially that obtained from the mines now under 
the control of the Austrian government at Joachimsthal, Bohemia, and pitchblende 
is the richest and most eagerly sought uranium radium ore. Outside of the ore in 
Austria, the only pitchblende deposits of any size are those in Gilpin County, Colorado, 
from which some 30 tons more or less have been procured since the mineral became 
valuable as a source of radium. The Denver papers recently announced that these 
pitchblende-bearing mines have been acquired by Alfred I. duPont of Wilmington, 
Delaware, and it is greatly to be hoped that their exploitation under his direction will 
yield an increased supply of this valuable mineral. It is not, however, so generally 
recognized that the mineral carnotite, which outside of the United States occurs only 
in low-grade ores mixed with ilmenite in the Olray district of South Australia and 
as a calcium carnotite (communicated by W. F. Hillebrand) under the name of 
Tyuyamyunite in Ferghana, Russian Turkestan, is by far the more important source 
of radium. From the most authentic sources it can be definitely stated that the 
Australian and Russian deposits do not compare in extent or richness with our own. 
The American carnotite is accordingly the largest source of radium at the present time 
and at least four times as much radium was mined in America in the form of carnotite 
in 1912 as has been produced from Colorado pitchblende since it was first discovered 
in that State. 

Outside of carnotite and pitchblende, the only other known source of radium is the 
mineral autunite. The autunite deposits of Portugal have probably furnished a few 
milligrams of radium to commerce, and from the Mt. Painter deposits in South Australia 
a few tons of autunite-bearing ores have been shipped to London. 

American carnotite is found chiefly in Montrose and San Miguel counties, Colorado, 
and in Utah northwest of these counties.. The Utah deposits are at Green River, 
Table Mountain, Richardson, Fruita, Moab, and some 16 miles southeast of Thomp¬ 
sons. The ores of these deposits are of a lower grade than those of the Paradox Valley, 
but they are nearer to the railroads and transportation costs are much less. The 
Green River deposits have apparently become regular producers. In Colorado, 
prospects have been opened at Coal Creek, 14 miles north of Meeker and at Skull 
Creek 65 miles west of Meeker; but the richest of all American carnotite localities and 
indeed the richest known radium-bearing region in the world is that of the Paradox 
Valley, Colorado,, extending from Hydraulic on the north to the McIntyre district 
on the south. 

Geologists are now in the field making a special study of these carnotite ores with 
special reference to their occurrence and origin, of which altogether too little is now 
known. In the Paradox region the deposits seem to lie invariably just above the 
fine-grained La Plata sandstone. This rock is usually exposed high on the sides of 
the canyons, some of which are excelled in extent and in natural beauty by only the 
Grand Canyon itself. In a few instances, as at, Long Park and Club Ranch, the de¬ 
posits are only a few feet under the surface, the higher formations having been eroded; 
but for the main part, the stratum in which the carnotite occurs, when not entirely 
eroded, is deep below the surface of the mesa. Accordingly prospecting is mainly 
carried on along the sides of the canyons, and where vanadium and uranium stains 
are seen upon the rock the prospector blasts his tunnel in the hope of developing a 
pocket of the ore. The fact that the ore occurs in pockets renders prospecting un¬ 
certain, and there appears to be no present hope of insuring a successful search for 
pockets that are not exposed or do not happen to be near the surface. Although it is 
probable that many other pockets of carnotite occur at the same geologic horizon, their 
discovery, except where the ore-bearing stratum has been exposejd by erosion, appears 
at present to be an almost hopeless task. The eroded sides of the canyons have been 
prospected again and again, but new claims are still being opened and are being sold 
by the prospector to the larger companies or operators who mine tho ore. In such a 


RADIUM. 


13 


sale the prospector and the purchaser both take a decided risk, for at present no 
method is used to determine the extent of the ore in the pocket other than the “ pros¬ 
pector’s hole.” 

As few of the prospectors of the west are acquainted with carnotite and pitchblende, 
the following description of the ores has been issued from the Denver office of the 
Bureau of Mines and is sent to all who make inquiry. 

‘ l In reply to your letter for information concerning radium ores, the following facts 
may be of interest: 

“Radium is found associated with uranium minerals only. Wherever uranium 
exists, radium is also found in the mineral; and where there is no uranium, radium has 
never been found. Uranium and therefore radium are found in this country in carno¬ 
tite and its associated minerals, and in pitchblende. Carnotite is a lemon-yellow 
mineral usually found in pockets in sandstone deposits. The mineral may be in the 
form of light yellow specks disseminated through the sandstone, or as yellow incrusta¬ 
tions in the cracks of the sandstone, or may be more or less massive, associated with 
blue, black, or brown vanadium ores. 

“Pitchblende is a har , blue-black ore that looks something like magnetite, but 
is heavier. It is found in pockets and veins in igneous rocks. This mineral is not 
nearly as wi< ely distributed as carnotite. Occasionally it is found associated with 
an orange mineral called gummite. 

“The best way to test these ores is to wrap, in the dark, a photographic plate in two 
thicknesses of black paper. On the paper lay a key and then just above the key, 
suspend two or three ounces of the ore, and place the whole in a light-tight box. 
Pressure of the ore on the key and plate should lie avoided. After three or four cays, 
develop the plate in the ordinary way; and if the ore is appreciably radioactive, an 
image of the key will be found on the plate. 

“The U. S. Bureau of Mines, 502 Foster Buil ing. Denver, Colorado, will be glad 
to receive any samples of ores giving promise of containing radium and associated rare 
minerals, as indicated by the test above described Though it cannot undertake to 
make chemical analyses or assays of such minerals for private parties, it will indicate 
the advisability of further examination.” 

The Colorado carnotite deposits were apparently first noted as far back as 1881, 
when Andrew J. Talbert mined some of the ore and sent it to Leadville where it was 
reported as carrying $5 in gold per ton. This must have been an unusual ore as the 
carnotite now found does not carry the precious metal. In 1890, Gordon Kimball and 
Thomas Logan sent specimens to the Smithsonian Institution, W ashington, D. C., 
and were informed that the minerals contained uranium. Shortly thereafter they 
minedt 10 tons of ore, shipped it to Denver, and sold it for $2,700 on account of its 
uranium content. Three years later, in 1899, Poulot and Voilleque collected and 
sent to France specimens which were examined by Fried el and Cumonge who recog¬ 
nized the existence of a new mineral and named it “Carnotite” in honor of M. Carnot 
then President of the French Republic. In 1900, Poulet and Voilleque leached 
carnotite ores at Cashin in the Paradox Valley to extract the uranium. They shortly 
after completed a small mill in the McIntyre district south of the Paradox and in this 
project had the cooperation of James McBride, a mining engineer of Burton, Michigan. 
Their mill ran until 1902 and during that time produced 15,000 pounds of uranium 
oxide. The mill was started again in 1903 by the Western Refining Company but ran 
only a year. Up to 1904, the mills appear to have been run wholly with the idea of 
obtaining the uranium and vanadium from the ore for no radium was extracte d 

Shortly afterwards the Dolores Refining Company built a new mill a short distance • 
from the old one but after running for some years, this mill, too, shut down. In 1912, 
the American Rare Metals Company acquired the mill of the Dolores Refining Com¬ 
pany and is now operating it, with the special purpose of obtaining radium from the 
ores. The first attempt to extract radium in this country appears to have been made 
by the Rare Metals Reduction Company, under the management of Stephen T. Lock- 
wood of Buffalo, N. Y. In September, 1900, Mr. Lockwood brought back from Rich¬ 
ardson, Utah, samples of carnotite ore and in 1902 he published (Eng. Min. Jour., of 
September 27th) the first radiographic plate from products of American carnotite. In 
June, 1902, he received 500 pounds of specially picked high-grade ore from Richard¬ 
son, Utah, and in May, 1903, as a result of experimental work on this ore, he incor¬ 
porated what was probably the first American company to operate a plant to produce 
radium as one of its products. In October, 1903, the first experimental plant was 
constructed and in April, 1904, the first 17-ton car of ore reached Buffalo from Rich¬ 
ardson, Utah. The company obtained a fair percentage of extraction but the ore 
proved to be too low-grade and the Richardson deposits were abandoned. No radium 
in concentrated form was put upon the market, although barium sulfate concentrates 
were produced. 


14 


RADIUM. 


The General Vana' ium Company which, with the Radium Extraction Company, is 
a subsidiary of the International Vanadium Company of Liverpool, England, was 
formed in 1909 and began work in 1910, the same year that the Standard Chemical 
Company of Pittsburgh, Pa., entered the field. Since that time these two companies 
have been engaged in mining carnotite. The ores from the General Vanadium Com¬ 
pany have been shipped almost entirely abroa' 1 , while the Standard Chemical Com¬ 
pany has shipped several hundreds of tons of carnotite to its works at Canonsburg, 
Pa. * While it was stated at the time of the advance announcement of the bulletin to 
be issued by the Bureau of Mines that one American company had actively entered 
into the production of ra ium no actual sale of American-prot’uced radum could be 
authenticated. Since that time, however, the Standard Chemical Company has 
entered the American markets. 

Besides the American Rare Metals Company and the Standard Chemical Company, 
a third company—the Radium Company of America with mines near Green River, 
Utah—has undertaken the production of ra ium in its plant at Sellersville, Pa. There 
is, therefore, every reason to hope that more and more of our ores will be worked up 
at home. 

Besides the companies already mentioned, a number of independent operators mine 
and ship carnotite from the Paradox region and for the main part send their ores to 
Hamburg. Among the more prominent of these may be mentioned: 

T V. Curran, Placerville, Colo. 

W. L. Cummings, Placerville, Colo. 

O. B. Wilmarth, Montrose, Colo. 

David Taylor, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

The costs of mining and especially of transportation are an important factor in the 
marketing of carnotite. The Green River deposits have a distinct advantage over the 
Colorado deposits in this respect, as they are nearer the railroad, but, as their ores do 
not average so high in uranium, this advantage is more apparent than real. The 
present costs of mining, sorting and sacking in the Paradox apparently vary from about 
$28 to $40 per ton. To this must be added an $18 to $20 hauling charge to Placerville, 
and, in most instances, an additional charge for burros from the mines to points that 
can be reached by wagon. The freight rate from Placerville to Hamburg via Galveston 
is $14.50 per ton, so that the average cost at present to the miner of laying down his ore 
at the European markets approximates $70 per ton. The selling price varies with the 
uranium content but is by no means proportional thereto, since a premium is always 
paid for rich ores. Very recently, however, a decided improvement has taken place 
and for 2 per cent ore, the price is now around $2.50 per pound for the contained 
uranium oxide delivered in Europe with an allowance of about 13 cents per pound 
for the vanadium oxide content, so that the 2 per cent ore will now bring in Hamburg 
about $110 per ton. One per cent ore is now salable but unless this ore is taken from 
the dump, so that the mining cost may be disregarded, it will scarcely bear present 
transportation charges from the Paradox, although it is more than probable that it will 
soon be shipped regularly from the Utah field. 

A price of $110 at Hamburg for 2 per cent ore leaves a good margin of profit to the 
miner, as mining profits go, but when it is considered that this price represents only 
a little oyer one-sixth of the value of the radium content of the ore and that from 
this fraction of the value the American miner has to meet the outlay represented by 
the investment, by mining costs, transportation and assay costs and by losses in 
transit, it seems scarcely just that nearly five-sixths of the value should go to foreign 
manufacturers of radium, especially when the fact is considered that radium can be 
produced much more readily from carnotite than from pitchblende. There are two 
ways of reducing this difference between the actual value of the ore and the price 
that the miner receives. One is to hold our American ores for a higher price, and the 
second is to manufacture radium at home. 

Large wastes are still taking place in the mining of carnotite, owing to the inability 
of the low-grade ores to bear transportation charges. As has already been pointed 
out, however, a distinct improvement in this respect has taken place within the last 
few months. The miners are beginning to realize the value of their old dumps and 
are attempting to save the low-grade nonshipping ore in such ways as will render its 
marketing.possible when prices advance. The Bureau of Mines has done everything 
it can to impress the necessity of this truest kind of conservation upon the mine 
operator. 

In addition there is prospect that most of the low-grade ores can be successfully con¬ 
centrated by mechanical methods, and experiments at the Denver office of the Bureau 
of Mines indicate that a concentration of four to one can be obtained. In this con¬ 
centration, however, there are losses which could be prevented by chemical con- 


RADIUM. 


15 


centration, but at the present time it costs more to ship the necessary chemicals to 
t le mines than it does to ship the ores to places where these chemicals can be cheaply 
obtained. It would appear, however, that mechanical concentration can save at 
least one-halt ot the material that is now going to waste. 

Although, until recently, the manufacture of radium from carnotite has been 
carried on almost wholly in France and Germany, there appears to be no good reason 
why our American carnotite should not be treated at home. Carnotite is much 
more easily treated than pitchblende and the essential features of met ho s for its 
chemical treatment are well known, although much of the mechanical detail of oper¬ 
ation has been kept secret. As the mechanical requirements, however, are those 
which any well-grounded chemical engineer should be able to solve, there seems to 
be no good reason why any of our carnotite ores should be shipped abroa , even at two 
or three times the present market price of the material. As before stated, the essen¬ 
tial features of chemical methods of extracting radium from its ores are well known. 
As regards the principles involved, the methods have advanced little beyond, the 
original method published by Debierne. 

The methods for carnotite may be described best in the words of Soddy, in an extract 
from “The C hemistry of the Radio Elements” by Frederick Soddy, page 45, published 
in 1911 by Longmans, Green & Co. 

“The most important operations in the working up of radium-containing mate¬ 
rials are the solution of the materials, consisting usually of insoluble sulfates, an' the 
separation of the halogen salts of the alkaline-earth group in a pure state, followed 
by their fractional crystallization. The first operation is usually effected by vigorous 
boiling with sodium carbonate solution, filtering and washing free from sulfate. This 
is the well-known reaction studied dynamically by Guldberg and Waage, whereby 
an equilibrium is attained between the two pairs of soluble and insoluble sulfates 
and carbonates. Naturally the greater the excess of so'ium carbonate the larger 
the proportion of insoluble sulfate converted into insoluble carbonate. In this oper¬ 
ation it is a visable not to wash at once with water but with so ium carbonate solution 
until most of the sulfates are remove- 1 , as thereby the reconversion of the carbonates 
back into insoluble sulfates is largely prevented. In dealing with crude materials, 
for example, the radium-containing residues from pitchblende, it is often a van- 
tageous to precede this operation by a similar one, using a sodium hydrate solution 
containing a little carbonate which c issolves part of the lead and silica present. 1 he 
carbonates washed free from sulfates are treated with pure hydrochloric aci which 
dissolves the alkaline earths including ra ium. From the solution the latter may 
be precipitated as sulfates by sulphuric acid and reconverted back into carbonates 
as before. Or sometimes more conveniently they may be precipitated directly as 
chlorides by saturating the solution with hydrogen chloride: this is a very elegant 
method of great utility in the laboratory, for the most probable impurities, chlori es 
of lead,, iron, calcium, etc., remain in solution and only the barium an 1 ra ium 
chlorides are precipitated, practically in the pure state, rea y for fractionation.” 

The price of radium appears for some time to have been holding steady at about 
$120 per milligram of radium metal. This does not mean that the material is bought 
in the elementary condition but that the radium chloride and radium bromide, which 
are on the market, are paid for on the basis of the metallic radium they contain. This 
method of payment is a distinct advance over the old method of paying the same 
price indiscriminately for the chloride or bromide. This price of $120 per milligram 
of the metal is equivalent to approximately $91,000 per gram of radium chloride 
(RaCkj), or $70,000 per gram of anhydrous radium bromide (RaBr 2 ). Whether this 
price will rise, fall, or remain stationary can not be predicted. There is no question 
that there is to be an increased radium production and that meso-thorium is also 
coming upon the markets in increasing quantity but the uses of and demand for 
radium are apparently developing at an even greater rate. Furthermore, the supply 
of the material is limited and no large resources are in sight. Only one estimate has 
been published of the total quantity of radium in the Colorado carnotite deposits and 
that was 900 grams. This estimate is at least five times as large as has been made by 
any employee of the Bureau of Mines, reckoning all known deposits in the whole 
American field, even including material too low grade to be marketable. Besides 
the' radium, the uranium and the vanadium present in carnotite are available assets, 
and recent developments indicate that all the uranium produced will soon be readily 
sold, while it is well known that there is a ready market for vanadium for vanadium 
stool 

The value to the public of these deposits is, however, not to be measured in dollars 
and cents. The value of the radium output of America will never compare with that 
of several of our common metals. The total value of the radium in the world s output 
of radium ores in 1912 was little more than $1,000,000. Accordingly the value must 


16 


RADIUM. 


ever be reckoned in wliat it can accomplish for the public knowledge and the public 
weal. No certain prediction can be made of the ultimate value of radium or of its 
possible applications to science or medicine, but enough has been done to show that 
radium is worthy of the fullest investigation by our highest scientific and medical 
authorities. Developments in its application to medicine are coming fast. The 
foreign medical press contains many apparently authentic reports of cures by its use. 
Interesting developments are also under way in America, and those who have had the 
largest personal experience in its use are most enthusiastic over its future application. 
The public may soon look to important publications from leading American authorities 
who have had real experience in radium therapy. It is to be greatly regretted that 
owing to the high price of the material, only three or four American surgeons have, 
so far as the Bureau of Mines is informed, been able to use it in quantities sufficient 
for the drawing of decisive conclusions. In the progress of the future applications of 
radium to the curing of disease, nothing is more to be feared than its use in nostrums 
of every kind. The “wonders of radium” have been so extensively exploited in the 
public press that already the name is being employed as a psychological agent in 
advertisements of all kinds of materials, many of which contain no radium at all or, 
if this element is indeed present, in such small quantities that no therapeutic value 
can be expected. As bearing on the need of further experiment, attention is called 
to the fact that the concentrated action of large quantities of radium may effect cures 
that have been impossible with the smaller amounts heretofore available to the medical 
profession. It is doubtful if there is at the present time in the hands of the medical 
profession of America more than a single gram of this rare element, and the results 
of investigations soon to be published will show that the concentrated action of the 
gamma rays from several hundred milligrams arrest certain forms of cancer and other 
malignant growths when smaller quantities are without beneficial effect. It is highly 
important that the medical profession should also have some guarantee of the material 
they purchase even if it is purchased in small quantities, and I am glad to note that 
the U. S. Bureau of Standards is preparing to standardize radium preparations. As 
several frauds in the sale of radium have already been perpetrated upon American 
physicians, they should all require that the quality of the material purchased should 
be certified under conditions which prevent error. 

In closing, I take pleasure in saying that I am authorized by the Director of the 
Bureau of Mines to announce that a cooperative agreement has been entered into 
with the newly organized National Radium Institute, whereby the Bureau obtains 
the opportunity of a scientific and technological study of the mining and concen¬ 
trating of carnotite ores and of the most efficient methods of obtaining radium, vana¬ 
dium, and uranium therefrom, with a view to increased efficiency of production and 
the prevention of waste. ^ 

The National Radium Institute was recently incorporated with the following officers: 

Howard A. Kelly of Baltimore, President. 

Curtis F. Burnam of Baltimore, Vice-Prest. 

Archibald Douglas of New York. Secretary and Treasurer. 

James Douglas of New York and E. J. Maloney of Wilmington, additional 
Directors. 

The Institute has no connection with the mining of pitchblende, details of which 
recently appeared in the Denver papers. It has, however, obtained the right to mine 
27 claims in the Paradox Valley region among which are some of the best mines in this 
richest radium-bearing region of the world. Nearly 100 tons of high-grade carnotite 
have already been procured. Under the agreement with the Bureau of Mines the 
technical operations of the mines and mill are to be guided by the scientific staff of 
the Bureau. Work will begin in an experimental plant to be erected in Colorado, 
using entirely new methods developed at the Denver office of the Bureau of Mines. 
Concentration experiments also will be conducted in the Paradox, probably at the 
Long Park claims, and if successful will be applied to reducing the wastes that now 
take place. Within a year at most the mill operations should make results certain 
and the extraction of ore and production of radium will then be continued on a larger 
scale. The separation of uranium and vanadium will also be studied, a contract 
having already been signed for all of these by-products that may be produced. All 
processes, details of apparatus and plant, and general information gained will be 
published for the benefit of the people. 

The Institute is supplied with sufficient funds to carry out its plans. The Insti¬ 
tute has been formed for the special purpose of procuring enough radium to conduct 
extensive experiments in radium therapy with special reference to the curing of 
cancer. It also expects to carry on investigations regarding the physical characteris¬ 
tics and chemical effects of radium rays and it hopes, in time, to be able to assist or 
perhaps even duplicate the effects of these rays by physical means. 


RADI UM. 


17 


Actual experience, especially of the Institute’s president, in the application of the 
(>50 milligrams of radium and 100 milligrams of meso-thorium already in his posses¬ 
sion, has led him and his associates to believe that with larger supplies many of the 
variables that cannot now be controlled may be fully correlated, and that radium may 
become the most effective agent for the treatment of cancer and certain other malig¬ 
nant diseases. Important results have already been obtained by using high concen¬ 
tration of the gamma rays of radium with the alpha rays entirely cut off and the beta 
rays largely eliminated. Hospital facilities in both Baltimore and New York are 
already supplied. 

The activities of *the Institute are sure to be of benefit to the prospector and miner 
by providing a greater demand for his already rare ore; to the plant operator by de¬ 
veloping methods and by creating a larger market for his product; and to the people 
by assisting, and possibly by succeeding, in controlling the most malignant of diseases. 
The radium produced is intended for the Institute’s own use and will consequently 
remain at home. 

The Bureau of Mines is especially fortunate in this opportunity to cooperate in the 
technological features of the work of the National Radium Institute. 

Bureau of Mines, Washington. 


Appendix 2. 

The National Radium Institute. 

• [From the Mining and Scientific Press, Jan. 5, 1914.] 

By Archibald Douglas, Secretary National Radium Institute. 

Through the investigations of the United States Bureau of Mines it became evident 
in the latter months of 1912 that valuable radium ores were being shipped abroad to 
be manufactured into radium which was being sold back to this country at prices 
entirely incommensurate with those paid for the ores themselves. But worse than 
this, it was discovered that at least twice as much uranium oxide and its accompa¬ 
nying radium was being wasted in the low-grade ores that were thrown on the dump 
and the fine camotite dust was being swept away by the winds and rain. Knowing 
the excellent work being accomplished by the Austrian Radium Institute and the 
Radium Institute of London, Charles L. Parsons, Chief of the Division of Mineral 
Technology, of the Bureau of Mines, proposed to Dr. Howard A. Kelly, of Baltimore, 
and Dr. James Douglas, of New York—both of whom he knew to be deeply interested 
in securing radium for use in two hospitals with which they were closely connected— 
that they form a radium institute and endeavor to work up some of our American 
ores and keep the rad him in this country for use among such of our own people a 
could be reached by such quantities as were secured. 

It was agreed, if the ores could be procured, that the radium institute would be 
founded and necessary funds furnished to work up the raw material. Mr. Parsons 
Meat with Dr. Kelly to the Paradox Valley, in Colorado, and inspected the mines 
there. On their return a conference was held with the officers of the Crucible Steel 
Mining A Milling Co., who owned 27 claims, 16 of which contain carnotite, in Mon¬ 
trose County, Colo., which it had been holding pending such time as it would pay to 
extract the vanadium and uranium therefrom. The officers of the Crucible Steel 
Mining & Milling Co., appreciating the immense good that the radium in these ores 
might accomplish, consented to have these claims worked on a royalty basis under 
an agreement covering the return of the uranium and vanadium content of the ore 
to them. Further conferences were then held with Drs. Kelly and Douglas, and 
the National Radium Institute was incorporated, as announced in the paper given 
by Mr. Parsons before the American Mining Congress at Philadelphia, October 24. 

For some months the Denver office of the Bureau of Mines had been carrying on 
laboratory experiments and investigations in the field with reference to the uranium 
ores, and a bulletin covering these investigations has just been published by the 
bureau. Knowing of the work of the Bureau of Mines, the National Radium Insti¬ 
tute proposed a cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Mines whereby the 
bureau was offered an opportunity for scientific and technologic study of the min¬ 
ing and concentration of the carnotite ores in the claims secured by the National 
Radium Institute and for studying in the plant of the institute the most efficient 
methods of obtaining radium, vanadium, and uranium therefrom, with a view to 
increased efficiency of production and the prevention of waste. The legality of 

H. Rept. 214 , 63-2-2 




18 


RADIUM. 


the agreement was carefully looked into and full approval given by the Govern¬ 
ment officials, it being found that there were many precedents in similar coopera¬ 
tive work, especially between the Department of Agriculture and the farmers of 
the country. 

In the agreement with the Bureau of Mines the technologic management of the 
mines and mills was to be guided by the scientific staff of the bureau, and Mr. Par¬ 
sons has been designated by the director to have charge of the investigation. He 
will be assisted by R. B. Moore, physical chemist in charge of the Denver laboratory, 
who will have direct management of the plant, and by Karl L. Kithil, mineral 
technologist of the bureau, who will be in charge of the mining and concentration. 
Plans have been completed and contracts let for the experimental plant to be erected 
at Denver, land for the plant has been leased, over 100 tons of carnotite have already 
been obtained, and the larger part of the apparatus has been ordered. 

In connection with the production of radium, the separation of uranium and vana¬ 
dium will also be studied, and all processes, details of apparatus and plant, and general 
information gained will be published for the benefit of the people. As a result of 
these experiments it is hoped that other plants will be erected and that our carnotite 
ores will be worked up at home and the radium kept in this country. The Institute 
was formed for the special purpose of procuring enough radium to conduct extensive 
experiments in radium therapy, with special reference to the curing of cancer. It is 
also expected to investigate the physical characteristics and chemical effects of radium 
rays. 

The radium produced will not be for distribution, as the work of Dr. Kelly has dis¬ 
tinctly shown that to get real results in the treatment of cancer and other malignant 
diseases a high concentration of gamma rays is essential, and this at the present time 
can only be obtained from a comparatively large amount of material. Accordingly, 
to distribute the radium among many hospitals or physicians would render it practi¬ 
cally ineffective for this purpose. Some hospitals at both New York and Baltimore 
are already partly supplied, and while it will be some time before a sufficient quantity 
of radium is produced from these ores to add greatly to the present usefulness of these 
hospitals, it is sincerely hoped that the work of the Institute will be of real benefit 
to many by assisting or possibly in controlling cancer, the most malignant of diseases. 

Besides being of benefit to the general public, the activities of the Institute are 
sure to assist the prospector and miner by providing a greater demand for his already 
rare ore and by assisting to conserve the large waste which is now taking place; also 
to the plant operator by developing methods and by creating a larger market for his 
products. The radium produced is intended for the Institute’s own use and is not 
for sale or distribution. 


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